23rd January 2007 – Infoterra Ltd has today announced it has been appointed to provide technical assistance to the Government of Vietnam in the development of a proposal for the first phase of the Vietnam Land Administration Project (VLAP), for more effective land utilisation and resource management aimed at alleviating poverty and encouraging stable economic development.

Appointed by SIDA/The Swedish Embassy in Hanoi, Infoterra’s highly-experienced team will work in close co-operation with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) and other Government of Vietnam agencies.

VLAP is key to the development of an effective, efficient and transparent Vietnam-wide land administration system. The project’s main components include: improvements to the land administration system, awareness building and management support.

Dr. Giles D’Souza, project consultant of Infoterra Ltd said: “This project comes at a very exciting time in the development of land administration systems and national spatial data infrastructures around the world. It further demonstrates the ability of land administration systems to underpin more effective land utilisation and resource management so aiding rural poverty alleviation and stable economic development.”

MoNRE, formed by the incorporation of several former government departments, has responsibility for the management of land, water and mineral resources, environment, and hydrometeorology, as well as surveying and mapping for the whole country.

SIDA is the Swedish Government Agency for bilateral international development cooperation and has a lot of experience in the field of land administration in Vietnam.

About Infoterra Ltd.
Infoterra Ltd. is a leading provider of geographic information products and services. Its portfolio of geographic information solutions includes airborne and satellite data acquisition, geo-information creation, database management and outsourced hosting. Infoterra provides geospatial knowledge to companies worldwide to help them make informed decisions. The company has major customers in communications, utilities, engineering, agriculture, defence and oil, gas & mineral exploration.
Infoterra Ltd. is part of the Infoterra group which comprises companies in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Astrium Ltd, an EADS company.
www.infoterra.co.uk